


A Blight on the Land

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Pocahontas (1995), Twisted Princesses - Jeftoon01
Genre: Animal Sidekick, Blood, Blood Magic, Character Death, Dark, Destruction, Elemental Magic, Gen, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Fanart, Princes & Princesses, Revenge, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-22
Updated: 2012-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-10 15:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/467858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The infection must be removed from the land</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Blight on the Land

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs45/i/2009/098/3/4/Twisted_Princess__Pocahontas_by_jeftoon01.jpg) Twisted Princes image made by Jeffery Thomas.

Soon after John Smith returned to his home, more white men came. They brought with them more of their guns and their evil illnesses that could not be cured with willow bark or sage root. They ignored the peace treaty that her father had worked out with Radcliffe's crew, and began to slaughter her people on sight. They even slaughtered some of the original settlers who had preached peace with the tribe.

At first Grandmother Willow explained that they were confused, and far from home, and they had been given bad orders without realizing the consequences. Eventually, she ran out of reasons, and she simply said, "I don't know," when Pocahontas asked about the continued killing.

One night, the water around the Willow ran red with the blood of her father. Pocahontas watched the red seep into her roots and dangling leaves, and she saw it all with perfect clarity. Diplomacy worked between civilized animals; those who respected the laws of nature deserved respect in return. Differences could be worked out peacefully if both sides were, as a whole, willing to try.

But these new men ignored the laws of nature. They overhunted without giving thanks for nature's bounty. They killed without reason, and fouled the water and land around them with carelessness.

Once, she had risked her life for peace, because, in general, both sides were willing to meet in the middle, once the singular radical elements were removed. However, these new men were not willing to meet in the middle, and there was no single man to blame. Now she had to risk her life for peace again, by removing the infection from their land.

If they would not accept nature's rules on their own, then she would show them the error of their ways, and rejoin them to the mother in earth.

She took her father's spear, coated in his own blood. She remembered the men preparing for battle, and she pressed her hand to his chest, over the handprint there. She then repeated the action on her own face, marking herself with her kin's blood. Now she was ready for battle.

The first man she killed was the one who had killed her father. He had missed her, hiding in the high branches of Grandmother Willow, and now he would learn from his mistake. She snuck up behind him, as quietly as she had once snuck up on deer, and looked for the gap in his armor. This was something she had learned from John, and she delivered a swift stab to his neck where the plate and helmet did not quite meet.

With a strangled grunt, he fell twitching. She grabbed his knife and finished the job, drawing it across his neck and neatly cutting off his head. She would keep this, to honor her father, as some kept bear and panther skulls to honor their spirits.

)(o)(

She found Meeko in a cage in one of their camps; his eyes were hard, like hers, and his mouth foamed, but he recognized her, and immediately jumped to her shoulder. Many days before her arm had been cut, had become infected, and she had claimed a piece of their armor to cover it with so that it would still be usable. He gripped the edges of it to keep his balance and to provide leverage when he leaped at one of the demon men. 

She had lost count of her kills, but she knew from listening to them talk that the men she considered an infection, and illness, were still there. They were talking about wiping out the last of the village, believing that it would put an end to the recent killings. They believed that a group of young men must be responsible, unable to think that a simple girl could dispatch of so many of their warriors.

She had already told the village to flee, writing it in blood on her father's tent, and she knew they would obey the curse magic that such a warning entailed. It was rare that her people used such things in their history, but the legends were strong. Blood was powerful, and not to be spilled lightly.

But Pocahontas had learned something, watching the blood soak into the old willow. Blood was like water, and it nourished the earth in the same way. She would destroy the blight on her land, and in doing so she would cast the blood magic to restore what had been taken. She was still a part of nature's great circle, though her place in it had changed.

Following the men as they set off towards the village, she planned the way she was going to attack, waiting until they split up to search the empty village. She had left some lights burning, so they would not suspect that her people had fled. They were easier to kill in smaller groups, and she knew that she could take care of all seven of these men tonight.

Their blood spurted and sprayed, some hitting her, but most of it returning to nature. The red liquid seeped into the leaves, into the ground, and returned to the cycle of life. As the light left their eyes, Pocahontas spoke a prayer of her people. Not for their souls, which she believed deserved the anguish of becoming wandering spirits, but for her own. Only a foolish hunter took life without giving thanks to the great mother for his success, and she was no different.

When all seven were dead, and her thanks given, Pocahontas retreated from the empty village. Creeping silently through the shadows, she returned to the stream, and ducked between the still willow branches. Grandmother Willow watched her come, disapproval and understanding warring on her face. Pocahontas climbed up into the highest branches, where she would be shielded from the sight of those on the ground. She had played here as a child, and now it was her only sanctuary.

From her vantage point, she watched the sky begin, ever so slightly, to lighten. Knowing that sunrise would be in a little while, Pocahontas set aside her weapons and curled up with Meeko to sleep. In the morning the white men would come looking for their missing soldiers, and they would find her messages. They would search for her, but they would never find her. And tomorrow night she would do it all over again.


End file.
